Wellington Phoenix stunned English Premier League visitors West Ham United 2-1 at Eden Park on 23 July, delighting a crowd which looked far greater than the announced figure of 19,193. Ernie Merrick's charges were good value for their Football United Tour victory, too, only looking under threat when "The Hammers" introduced former Liverpool winger Stewart Downing off the bench - the Alan Hardaker Trophy winner from the 2012 League Cup Final was a constant menace in the half-hour he graced the pitch. But Wellington had their own player who impressed in like manner, one who, while nowhere near as dynamic as Downing, makes the A-League team tick with his ability to do the simple things well. Welcome back from injury, Albert Riera, the Carlsberg Man of the Match, and rightly so. West Ham began brightly, but soon found themselves on the wrong end of a few over-zealous tackles by some of their Wellington opponents, whose eagerness to impress saw a couple booked and others firmly spoken to by referee Peter O'Leary, himself taking charge of a match for the first time since the FIFA World Cup Finals. The guile of Matt Jarvis and the aerial prowess of Carlton Cole were the prime means by which West Ham sought to prise open Wellington's defence, and the pair combined to good effect in the sixth minute, only for Cole to direct his header straight at Moss. The duo teamed up again two minutes later, Jarvis beating two en route to the byline, from where he pulled the ball back into the stride of Cole, ten yards out from goal. His shot struck Ben Sigmund as the defender stretched to cover it, and ricocheted to safety off the face of the diving figure of Moss - a real let-off for the local team. Wellington responded by opening the scoring in the eleventh minute. New signing Nathan Burns was hauled down outside the penalty area by Mark Noble, whose distribution qualities far outweigh his defensive ones. Another of Wellington's new recruits, Alex Gorrin clipped the free-kick towards the near post and found Andrew Durante completely unmarked. The captain wasted little time in heading home to open the scoring. West Ham were stunned by this blow, and their attempts to get back on level terms were thwarted in part by their lack of variation. Wellington knew Cole was the target, so made it their business to stifle the supply lines, although in the case of Jarvis, that proved easier said than done - he had the run of the left flank for the majority of his time on the park. Occasionally, United would seek the way to Cole down the right flank, from where Guy Demel delivered a cross which Cheikhou Kouyate headed across to the target man in the twentieth minute. Cole's header was only narrowly astray on this occasion, while the man starting in place of the injured Andy Carroll found himself being picked out by a Jarvis cross five minutes later, as United's record signing continued to justify his price tag, leaving two defenders in his wake on this occasion. Cole headed the ball down into the goalmouth, where Kouyate's flick appeared to set up Kevin Nolan for a close-range finish. But West Ham's usual captain failed in his attempt to back-heel the ball past Moss, who smothered solidly. Wellington's response to this sustained spell of pressure? Double their lead, of course. Moss' clearance downfield saw Gorrin get the better of impressive United defender James Collins in a tackle. The midfielder then surged forth before letting rip from the edge of the penalty area, the ball arrowing past Jussi Jasskelainen into the bottom right-hand corner of the net - 2-0, and a goal which sent Wellington's fans into dreamland. Could their team possibly conquer one of last season's beaten League Cup semi-finalists? They were certainly playing well enough to do so. While West Ham were offering the greater attacking threat - hardly surprising given Jeremy Brockie was Wellington's sole outlet in that area of the park - the locals were giving the visitors plenty to ponder. Riera, Gorrin and Burns were proving themselves an eye-catching midfield trio, Ben Sigmund was his usual formidable self, and trialist Tom Doyle did his chances of earning a contract no harm at all. Even Brockie had his moments - as Wellington's first line of defence, his harrying of West Ham's rearguard certainly served its purpose. The combined efforts of Wellington's work restricted West Ham's to just two chances to reducing the deficit before half-time. Koutate picked out Jarvis on the left in the 34th minute, and the flank player managed to evade the clutches - literally - of his marker before curling one just past the far post. Three minutes later, Mohamed Diame pounced on a stray pass inside his own half and stormed downfield, surging past Wellington opponents as they mounted a mad scramble to get back in cover. Eventually he let fly, but his accuracy didn't even come close to matching his industry, and ensured that when the half-time whistle blew, the scoreline

read Wellington Phoenix 2, West Ham United 0 - no, not a misprint! West Ham's captain for the day was Auckland native Winston Reid. The All Whites' skipper found himself in the wars on a couple of occasions in this encounter, with an over-exuberant first half tackle bringing him to ground. A clash of heads four minutes into the second half appeared to be far more damaging at first, with Reid a rather groggy figure as he was eventually assisted from the park. Thankfully, he returned to the fray soon after - it was more than a little concerning for all present to see the Hammers' Kiwi talisman prone on the turf for so long. Wellington - not West Ham - were the team to provide the attacking threat early in a second half dominated by substitutions. Sigmund picked out Burns in the 53rd minute, and he took on and beat Kouyate before seeing his deflected cross-shot land on the roof of the net. Seven minutes later, a twenty-five yard screamer from the some-time Socceroo swerved inches the wrong side of Jaaskelainen's right-hand post, while a further sixty seconds elapsed before another driving run from Gorrin saw his cross flicked on by Brockie into the stride of substitute Kenny Cunningham, who sliced his shot into the side-netting. Cue a double substitution by West Ham which changed the game. New signing Mauro Zarate entered the fray, as did some-time England winger Downing, and the latter was swiftly into his stride just a day after turning thirty. Doyle and company suddenly found themselves having to deal with a player who commanded a £20m transfer fee just three years ago, making him the second most expensive player to kick a ball in anger on these shores - only David Beckham, who played here for LA Galaxy, has transferred for a higher sum. And Downing played like a player worthy of that fee, raiding at will and often during the final half-hour. Zarate, too, offered plenty, not least outstanding technical prowess, and it was no surprise when he utilised his talents to good effect nineteen minutes from time. Sigmund blocked a goalbound shot from the Argentinian, the rebound from which fell to Jarvis, who instantly supplied Zarate with the sphere once more. This time, the striker used the weight of the pass to find space beyond the covering figure of Riera, from where Zarate unleashed a curling effort which arced past Moss' despairing dive and into the corner of the net - 2-1, game on! Cue Downing. His rasping twenty-five yarder was parried by Moss in the 74th minute - the 'keeper just recovered the ball before Nolan could pounce on the rebound - while the winger dashed to the byline before crossing three minutes later, the head of Nolan his target. Moss pawed the ball off same, and Sigmund completed the clearance. Further danger from Downing materialised eleven minutes from time, a cross-field ball which Ricardo Vaz Te dummied for Joseph O'Brien to run onto. The fullback played the ball forward to Nolan, who held play up well before laying it back into the stride of O'Brien. His cross picked out Zarate, who employed terrific technique to execute a spectacular scissors kick-style volley in the general direction of the target. Moss was as relieved to see that effort pass the post as Lewis Italiano, his replacement, was five minutes later, when Vaz Te's header, from a Downing corner, sizzled narrowly past the upright. Italiano rarely gets any game-time for Wellington, but he proved himself up to the task in stoppage time when making two vital saves. Vaz Te and Downing set up Diego Poyet for a rasping drive which the 'keeper was right behind, while Italiano flung himself to his right to turn Downing's twenty-five yard thunderbolt round the post with a minute left on the clock. West Ham piled on the pressure in their pursuit of a late equaliser, but Wellington held firm and created a bit of history for themselves by recording a 2-1 victory over their English Premier League opponents. In doing so, they became the first New Zealand club side to beat UK opponents since Kevin Mulgrew fired Christchurch United to a 1-0 win over that season's beaten Scottish FA Cup finalists, Heart of Midlothian, at English Park in 1976. With Newcastle United having thrashed Sydney FC 4-0 twenty-four hours earlier in Dunedin, Wellington's famous win sets up something of a final for the Football United Tour at Westpac Stadium on Saturday, where the winners of these games clash at 4.30pm, preceded by the losers' duel at 2pm. Wellington:     Moss (Italiano, 81); Muscat (Brindell-South, 89), Sigmund, Durante, Doyle (booked, 27); Gorrin, Riera (booked, 65) (Blake, 84), Burns (Boxall, 78); Boyd (Cunningham, 55), Brockie (Krishna, 71), Fenton (booked, 5) (Ridenton, 61) West Ham:     Jaaskelainen; Demel (O'Brien, 68), Collins (Tomkins, 68), Reid, Cresswell (Potts, 78); Nolan (Poyet, 81), Noble (booked, 11) (Fanimo, 84), Kouyate (Downing, 60); Diame (Whitehead, 71), Cole (Zarate, 60), Jarvis (Vaz Te, 72) Referee:     Peter O'Leary